The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861 eBook

THE WILL OF KOSCIUSZKO

I, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, being just on my departure
from America, do hereby declare and direct, that,
should I make no other testamentary disposition of
my property in the United States, I hereby authorize
my friend, Thomas Jefferson, to employ the whole thereof
in purchasing Negroes from his own or any others,
and giving them liberty in my name, in giving them
an education in trade or otherwise, and in having
them instructed for their new condition in the duties
of morality, which may make them good neighbors, good
fathers or mothers, husbands or wives in their duties
as citizens, teaching them to be defenders of their
liberty and country, and of the good order of society,
and in whatsoever may make them happy and useful.
And I make the said Thomas Jefferson my executor of
this.

FROM WASHINGTON’S WILL

“Upon the decease of my wife, it is my will
and desire that all the slaves whom I now hold in
my own right shall receive their freedom....
And whereas among those who will receive freedom according
to this devise, there may be some who, from old age
or bodily infirmities, and others who on account of
their infancy will be unable to support themselves,
it is my will and desire that all who come under the
first and second description, shall be comfortably
clothed and fed by my heirs while they live; and that
such of the latter description as have no parents
living, or if living are unable or unwilling to provide
for them, shall be bound by the court until they shall
arrive at the age of twenty-five years; and in cases
where no record can be produced, whereby their ages
can be ascertained, the judgement of court upon its
own view of the subject shall be adequate and final.
The negroes thus bound are (by their masters or mistresses)
to be taught to read and write, and to be brought
up to some useful occupation, agreeable to the laws
of the Commonwealth of Virginia, providing for the
support of orphan and other poor children.”—­Benson
J. Lossing’s Life of George Washington,
vol. iii., p. 537.

THIS INTERESTING DIALOGUE WAS WRITTEN BY AN AMERICAN ABOUT 1800

The following dialogue took place between Mr. Jackson
the master of a family, and the slave of one of his
neighbors who lived adjoining the town, on this occasion.
Mr. Jackson was walking through the common and came
to a field of this person’s farm. He there
saw the slave leaning against the fence with a book
in his hand, which he seemed to be very intent upon;
after a little time he closed the book, and clasping
it in both his hands, looked upwards as if engaged
in mental prayer; after this, he put the book in his
bosom, and walked along the fence near where Mr. Jackson
was standing. Surprised at seeing a person of
his color engaged with a book, and still more by the
animation and delight that he observed in his countenance;
he determines to enquire about it, and calls to him
as he passes.